Forgiveness
by Bushwah
Summary: "A promise must be kept, and a rule can never be broken." Thus is the custom of the family that deals in death. While playing a game with his youngest brother, Killua accidentally invades his space. Earning forgiveness will be the hardest thing he has ever attempted, even if the rest of the family don't get involved... and Kalluto seems only interested in revenge.
1. Playing

Killua heard a quiet knock on the door. "Come in," he said.

_Wait, Alluka's downstairs. But who else...?_

The door opened. Killua was relieved to see that it wasn't Alluka. His little sister could get in big trouble if she tried to visit him.

But that, at least, would have made sense._ Why Kalluto?_

"Um, why are you in my room?"

There was no change in Kalluto's expression as he said, "I'm your brother."

Well, no duh.

"O-kay... Do you want to do something?"

"Do you?"

"Sure, I guess." Killua looked around the room, then looked down. "So, uh, do you want to play find the target?"

"Find the target is acceptable."

Killua didn't know if Kalluto had been ordered to do it by Mother, or if he'd taken the wrong powder from the cabinet in the kitchen, but there was something really weird going on. Kalluto had never wanted to join when Alluka was playing find the target with him, or Silva.

Then again, Kalluto didn't tend to interact with him. They might be assigned training together occasionally, but that didn't mean they knew each other.

"Do you know the rules?" Killua had been playing find the target and other training games with Silva almost since he could walk, but he had spent more time with his father than any of his siblings. Kalluto was close to their mother, he knew, and Kikyou wouldn't play. She would probably want to—

"I know the rules."

—actually, Killua had no idea what they did together.

"Who's the target?"

Kalluto pointed at him. "You."

"All right. The game is limited to inside; I won't hide behind locked doors or in places either of us isn't allowed in; and if you can't find me, activate my communicator and I'll meet you in the bathroom next to the kitchen."

"Which kitchen?"

"Kikyou's." Oh, the one with the poisons.

"All right."

Kalluto turned away, fingers moving, counting off the seconds. Killua left the room, closing the door behind him to muffle sound; he wasn't a total failure of an assassin, after all. Standing outside, he realized he hadn't thought of a place to hide.


	2. Counting

_What do I do now?_

Killua ran away, frantically, trying to at least evade Kalluto for a few minutes while thinking of how the house was laid out and anywhere he could possibly hide. Silva had told him to allow hour-long intervals before the search. He shouldn't take that much time to think, though. Kalluto might know different rules.

_The kitchen itself?_

No, Kalluto knew it like the back of his hand. Besides, there were always people in the kitchen, and there was no rule about asking for help, though Kalluto probably wouldn't do that... anyway, he didn't know anywhere to hide but the poisons cabinet, and Killua certainly didn't want the effects of that.

_Not any personal rooms._ That ruled out a significant part of the hiding places on the third floor, and Kalluto had probably already discovered the rest.

_No hiding behind locked doors._ This one was particularly troublesome; even locked, either of them could probably get into most rooms of the mansion, but this ruled out the entire fourth floor and most of the second.

_The servants' corridors?_ Same problem as the kitchen—Killua didn't know the territory and Kalluto did, and he wasn't supposed to be there, so it was off limits anyway.

_Okay... think, think, don't stop running, don't make noise, think._ Killua realized the one place he might actually be able to hide that wasn't restricted by their terms.

He went down a set of smooth stone steps, realizing he probably knew this place considerably better than his brother, and that he should use that knowledge to its fullest.

_Oh, this could take a while._

Killua was at the base of the stairs to the basement. Or, as his family thought of it, _downstairs._

＊＊＊

_Ten minutes._ Kalluto counted on his hands simply because the game was in progress; the actual timer was his internal time sense.

_Twenty minutes._

_Half an hour. Forty minutes._

_Fifty minutes. _Kalluto replayed Silva's words in his head. _If the communicator doesn't activate in an hour, hunt me down regardless. The same goes for you. If it takes you more than an hour to conceal yourself, you don't deserve to be concealed._

_Sixty minutes._ Kalluto opened his eyes.


	3. Searching

The fourth floor, being both locked and forbidden, was obviously out of bounds, so Kalluto started searching for Killua at one end of the third-floor hallway. He listened carefully for any trace of his target's movements, and finding none, began to quietly look through the rooms that were not forbidden by the rules of the game.

It took Kalluto less than eight minutes to search the third floor. Some of the rooms were in use, like the one he shared with Kikyou and Silva, but they were all out of bounds for one reason or another, and most of the storage rooms were behind locked doors, so he only had to look at three rooms in all.

He looked under sheet-covered furniture—lifted the sheets silently—found nothing but sofas and tables and empty bookshelves. Only when he was certain that no one was in the room did he leave, closing the door behind him.

The second floor took more time—a good half hour. There were more 'family' communal rooms, none of which was routinely locked. Two of them were locked today—Kalluto could hear Milluki screaming about some girl's picture, and the other one did not appear to have anyone in it. Killua couldn't be behind a locked door, however, so Kalluto moved on to the first floor.

He knew the first floor so well that he had to be careful not to dismiss anywhere as a hiding place. Killua, however, was either better at hiding than Kalluto had thought or not in the part of the mansion that rose above the ground.

_It's time to go downstairs._

＊＊＊

Killua's internal voice—the panicky one—spoke up. _What if I need to get out?_

_You can't do that, so there's no need to think about it._ Through some set of unconscious associations that Illumi could probably trace perfectly, that one was exactly like Silva's.

_If I really needed to, I guess I could..._

_Don't even think about it. Can you reach your communications device?_

Sheepishly, Killua replied, _Yeah..._

_Then use that to give up, and Kalluto can come get you._

Embarrassed at being out-argued by himself, he whispered aloud, "Fine."


	4. Losing

The Zorodikku basement was complicated.

Because Kalluto was always with Kikyou, he had not had the time to examine its intricacies. He knew Silva had manipulated all three of his brothers into exploring the maze, sometimes playing a game such as find the target or deathtouch, but more often slipping away under the house simply for the thrill of using their skills to find their way back.

And he—he wasn't lost, not as such. He'd memorized his route carefully, and he could find his way back from here by retracing his steps. He wasn't lost. However, the normal ways of dividing up a space for searching were failing him in a three-dimensional warren of unused rooms and strange equipment, and he would have to learn the patterns of the maze before he would have a chance of finding Killua in this territory. He could be hiding anywhere in here, after all.

Kalluto dialed a three-digit code on his communications device.

＊＊＊

Killua had been told that either of his arms could easily hold his entire weight, and had indeed tested this for a few minutes on a pullup bar, but that didn't prevent it from being completely terrifying to dangle above a pit by only his right arm. After close to two hours, the communications device in his left hand lit, and he pressed the green button with his thumb, adjusting his right hand's grip on the metal bar it held.

"I give up," Kalluto said.

The green light died.

Killua held the device between his legs as he switched to his left hand, giving his right a much-needed break, and pulled himself up onto the ledge above where he hid. No one else knew of that place under the ledge, as far as he knew, and he was the one who had installed the bar. He'd been eight and needed a place to hide from Milluki, who knew downstairs from his fancy three-dimensional models that couldn't tell when Killua changed the rules. The ledge and the pit had been there since before he was born, maybe even before Silva had.

He went back the long way to the kitchen. The scenery was fantastic. Some of the molds on the walls glowed orange and green, and there was a dungeonesque feel to it that made it fun to walk through. There was no point in hurrying; it would just give Kalluto a better idea of where he'd been.

＊＊＊

Kalluto waited in the bathroom, listening for footsteps. All the brothers knew how to walk so that they could be heard, and unless actively training it was required that they do so. It was a considerable period before Killua came back, and Kalluto suspected more strongly that his brother had hidden downstairs. It was the only place that wasn't off-limits that could have taken him that long to return from.

"I lost," he said when Killua opened the door.

"It's okay," Killua replied. "You don't know downstairs as well as I do."

＊＊＊

Well, that and the fact that he was hiding in such an unlikely, uncomfortable place that Silva might have taken longer than that to find him.

Killua was a hedonist first, an assassin second. That didn't mean he wasn't willing to get a little bit uncomfortable to confuse his brothers. He'd never managed it even a little bit on Illumi, but the other two weren't hard to trick.


	5. Plotting

Killua fiddled with the timer he'd snagged from the kitchen a room over. "I guess it's your turn to be the target. Same rules. I'll be here for an hour, or until you call."

He started the timer and stretched out on the bathroom floor, watching back-lit green numbers count off the deciseconds on the timer still in his hand. Dropping the timer, he closed his eyes. There was no reason to waste a perfectly good hour.

＊＊＊

Kalluto had decided on a hiding place before the game began. There was a secret pathway between Kikyou's kitchen and a bathroom on the second floor, and he would take that and go to the third floor, where he would hide in the bottom drawer of a deprecated filing cabinet. He could activate the communications device while still in the passage to the bathroom, and Killua would weight his search to the areas near the starting point, at least at first, because Kalluto could not have gone far in that amount of time.

He did consider that Killua was the heir and might know ways of finding him in which Kalluto was inexperienced, and his plan involved a fragile stage, but Killua was the heir and he would have to use deception to have a chance anyway.

It wasn't like this sort of trick was cheating.

The only rules besides the ones assigned at the beginning of each round were the ones laid out by Silva to both of them: if the assassin can prove that he knows where the target is in relation to himself, he wins; if either surrenders, the other wins; wait for an hour or until contacted to begin searching; and the game is not to be permitted to interfere with other training or meals. If it is interrupted, the target wins, but it isn't considered to reflect on the assassin's skill.

Another rule was that neither could actually hurt the other, though that was more for games in general. Injuring the target did reflect on the assassin's skill, more so than being unable to find him.

He saw the timer start and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He was unable to hear himself, and guessed that Killua couldn't either. He went down the hall to the archway that led to the kitchen, tapped the middle, far left, and middle-right buttons of the range hood, and entered the passage that opened in the wall between two refrigerators.

Kalluto activated his communications device, beginning the hunt, and started carefully climbing the passage. The wood creaked if you put your weight even slightly out of place, and there was no background chatter to cover it, here at the peak of Kukuruu Mountain.


	6. Finding

Killua hadn't had time to fall completely asleep when the communications device beeped. He took an entire second to analyze which hiding places Kalluto could have reached in that time, and guessed that he'd hidden himself in a hallway or other open place, so that if he heard Killua approach, he could run away.

There weren't any places Killua knew within that distance that Kalluto could conceivably hide in, if he took into account the fact that the other boy had been silent and not running his fastest, and Kalluto would play to win, would refuse to settle for an easily discovered hiding place, as all of his brothers would.

Never being easy on his training partner, not expecting Killua to do any less.

＊＊＊

Kalluto set his feet on precisely measured places, balancing his slight body on the rough wood of the kitchen passage, and reached up again. He was almost at the top.

＊＊＊

Killua went up to the second floor, as he thought that Kalluto planned to move further than the first floor, and did not know the basement well enough to hide downstairs.

And up to the third floor, the top floor that they were allowed on and the last floor before the locked upper regions. He knew that there were at least two more floors, because he had heard that Maha lived on the fifth floor, but then, that was from his mother, and he knew better than to trust her.

He paused at the door to one of the storage rooms, but he knew they weren't forbidden, so he opened the door.

As soon as he saw inside, he knew that he'd made a mistake. Oragami art was pinned to the walls, and lace covered an enormous bed. There was a plain off-white pillow, a lacy white-and-pink one, and one that was bright fiery red and painted with pictures of flowers.

He felt himself blush as dark as Kalluto's pillow, and turned to leave his parents' room.

Killua saw a flash of scarlet movement on the stairs, and his little brother was standing in front of him, wearing his usual red yukatta. All of the brothers knew that Kalluto had never stopped sleeping in his mother's room. He didn't look angry, not really, when Killua broke the rules and looked in a forbidden room. He only looked embarrassed, and lost.

The door had been left unlocked, but Killua didn't say anything. It was over when he closed the door, and nothing could be said.


	7. Thinking

It was an accident, and Kalluto would never believe him. Killua was completely unsure how to act. He'd just trespassed in Kalluto's personal room, which someone had left unlocked, and he'd broken the rules of the game. He wasn't sure what Silva would do, as Killua had never been so stupidly careless when Silva was watching, but if Kalluto told him...

"I-" He stopped before he could get the words out. This wasn't something an apology could fix. All they could do was ignore it. It wouldn't happen again.

Or one of them could make a scene. They both had blackmail material, but Killua's offense was much worse. He'd actually broken his own rules, while Kalluto just had an embarrassingly flowery pillow. If both secrets got out, Milluki would tease Kalluto about it for all of five seconds and go back to his figurines, and Killua wouldn't ever be allowed to get near his youngest brother again, except maybe on missions.

It was an accident, and Kalluto would never believe him. It was even a legitimate mistake, if you weren't an assassin. He'd assumed a personal room would be locked, and he didn't exactly know where all the doors went on this floor.

He should, it wasn't complicated, but he'd never bothered to learn. He had even less cause to be on the third floor than Kalluto did to be downstairs, as his preference was to stay safely out of his parents' way.

Silva wanted the best for him, but he sure had a weird way of showing it. Kikyou was even worse, being clingy and embarrassing one moment and trying to poison him the next, and on a few memorable occasions, both at once.

Kalluto also lived up here, and he- Killua didn't know what to make of him now. On the one hand, he was part of the family he hated. On the other, he was being, well, nice. He'd offered to play. He'd trusted Killua.

Killua had betrayed that trust. It was an accident, and Kalluto would never believe him.

He looked intently at his brother, sending him a silent apology, hoping he'd understand.

＊＊＊

Kalluto was trying not to think about it, and he maintained his calm expression, but he couldn't stop remembering the look in Killua's eyes, the same as when he'd been caught smuggling chocolate into the mansion. Like he hadn't thought it was really important, like he'd just gone in on a whim.

He didn't know what he should do with the knowledge that Killua had been unprofessional enough to walk into his room. He'd thought everyone knew that okaa-san and otou-san didn't keep their door locked, and if Killua didn't, then he still should have at least known where the room was. All the family members were expected to know the basics of the above-ground part of the mansion, such as where the forbidden rooms were and the location of at least one bathroom.

Killua had gone into his room, and Kalluto didn't even know why.

He intended to find out. He'd use blackmail if he had to. He didn't know how much Killua had seen, but personal rooms were off limits for a reason, and he was going to teach that to his brother the rebel.


	8. Lying

It was too bad Kalluto couldn't do anything to Killua while he was asleep. Even if Killua didn't wake up, Illumi would be sure to, and there wasn't a non-incriminating reason to be in their room in the first place. Or for that matter just outside the door with a bucket of liquid nitrogen, or lighter fluid, or water, or any derivatives thereof.

Still, there were places where he would be unlikely to get the wrong target. He just had to find out where they were, and trap them in some way. It would almost have to be passive to some degree, and he certainly wouldn't want to be around during the execution, considering the target's reflexes, because active ambush on _Killua_ was not just stupid, but liable to get him killed, or worse, disowned.

It wasn't too late to watch Killua directly for the relevant information. He could pretend to not care about what Killua had done, or think it a passing thing. He could even try to find out why the incident had occurred in the first place. Maybe the plan wouldn't even be necessary.

Maybe. But if Killua lied again...

＊＊＊

Kalluto was acting suspiciously normally. Over the last couple of days, he'd disappeared during his free time and ignored Killua unobtrusively, just like he had before the whole fiasco. No visible anger, no visible anything. From the outside, he looked like a doll. Like he didn't care about anything but being his mother's perfect daughter.

Killua was sure that Kalluto wouldn't forgive him.

And yet, two days after it all came crashing down, Kalluto had approached him again. Killua had been in a hammock out back, whittling a stick aimlessly with his claws and enjoying the half-sunlight under the trees, and Kalluto had looked at him for almost a minute as if memorizing his position before turning and walking away.

It wasn't friendly, but it wasn't normal, either.

＊＊＊

There was one more encounter to have with Killua, after watching him on and off for nearly a week. Then, the battle would begin.

Everything was in motion _now_, and Kalluto wouldn't wait any longer. The target wouldn't get more rattled, or less cautious, with further passing of time, nor would Kalluto himself be more prepared.

He went to the closet to retrieve something he thought he might need, and went looking for Killua. The target stuck to a few places under normal circumstances. Presumably he had deeper places, downstairs and upstairs, that he could hide in, but hiding and going about one's normal business were entirely different situations.

There could be a week, or a month, between attacks. His determination would be sufficient.

＊＊＊

"Why did you go in my room?"

Killua tried to think fast, but gave up after the first quarter second. Kalluto probably wouldn't kill him for a truth that he thought was a lie, but he might if it was a lie that he thought was a truth and was disillusioned for one reason or another. Their mother and father... wouldn't care unless something drastic happened. By the time Killua had figured out what to say, almost a second had passed, and he knew he wouldn't live that one down, even if he never heard a word of it again.

"I was lost."

＊＊＊

Kalluto walked away, holding the piece of chocolate in his hand, carefully, gently. It might still be useful at some point.

If he was inclined to believe that story, he would have forgiven Killua the first time.

_This is war._


	9. Pranking

After training, Killua went to get his favorite switchblade from its secret place under his pillow. It wasn't there.

He went to ask his father if he knew anything about the mysterious disappearance, but chickened out at the last moment. It would turn up soon. He'd just forgotten it somewhere. Surely it hadn't been taken. Right?

No, he'd put it away normally last night and hadn't touched it since.

He wondered what Kalluto was going to ask for.

＊＊＊

Killua soon realized that walking in the forest wasn't much fun without the switchblade to play with. He went over to his hammock to take a nap.

There was a cat on the hammock. Hearing his approach, the cat tensed for takeoff—there was a glint of metal to his left—the hammock ripped—the cat dug its claws into the falling hammock, _trapped_, he could have reached out and killed it in midair—hissing, the cat tried to leap away, claws still tangled in cloth—

—_that could have been me_—

—it hit the ground on its back. Killua winced.

The cat limped away into the forest.

＊＊＊

Killua inspected the trap. His switchblade had been rigged to slice through the center of one side of the hammock when weight was put on it. That was why the cat had looked like it was falling _through_ the ruin instead of off the edge, and why it was only during the last jump that it had activated.

No one seemed to be nearby, but when he was dealing with his own family, that didn't mean much.

He took the now-open knife gingerly and resolved to find a better hiding place.

＊＊＊

Dealing with strange requests was most of Zeburo's job. Still, he didn't understand why Master Killua wanted matches and cleaning supplies this month, or why Master Kalluto wanted so many boxes of paper—to be delivered personally, of course.

＊＊＊

Killua first did his best to make sure he wasn't being followed, then went downstairs to check on his _science project_. The substance inside the glass vial seemed to be maturing well. Satisfied, he went back to his room.

The door opened as soon as he turned the handle, and he was pushed aside by a landslide of confetti.

When he'd ordered the ingredients, he had hoped that he wouldn't have to use the concoction downstairs, but it was clear that there wasn't much choice but to fight back. Kalluto certainly wasn't interested in fair play.

＊＊＊

Killua dropped the vial down the secret passage and closed it quickly, not waiting to hear it break against the back of the poisons cabinet.

Someone was soon to get a faceful of ammonium sulfide.

＊＊＊

Kalluto, eating more than usual in a futile attempt to shake loose the rotten-egg smell lodged in his nose, watched Kikyou leave the dinner table. He was going to try to get her help, and she seemed to have something to talk about as well.

He admitted defeat and followed.

When he entered their room, though, he was greeted by the sight of his mother sitting on the bed holding the angriest-looking cat he'd ever had the misfortune of seeing.

It seemed Killua had gotten to her first.

＊＊＊

The next morning, Killua went to breakfast with an uncharacteristic spring in his step. The cat with the injured back had likely kept fighting for room all night. Besides, the stink-bomb had likely not yet completely dissipated, even if it was removed promptly.

When he saw the red-pepper eyes and mouth of the grinning devil on his plate, he almost regretted bringing the dispute into the realm of food.

Then his eyes opened wide as he realized... Kalluto couldn't have done this one alone.

_They know._


	10. Running

Killua was just outside the mansion. He'd managed to appear calm for the rest of breakfast, actually eating some of the disgusting stuff in desperation, but he knew he had to leave as soon as possible. _If they know... if they know everything..._

If he could go to the side, around back, without being seen—

If he could call Miike, get to her before Father did, order her to carry him away... she could _jump_ the fence...

But it was already too late, even if he escaped completely; there would always be another way for them to bring him back; there always was... What if he didn't care, what if he just turned around and _killed them_... no, he wasn't strong enough, _not strong enough_—

There had to be a way out. He had to believe there was a way out.

And so he ran, across the open space between the mansion and the forest, into the cover of the trees.

Straight toward the kennel of the great guard dog Miike.

_At least I will have tried._

＊＊＊

Kalluto shadowed him from some distance, getting a little out of breath. He hadn't expected Killua to react like _this_.

Or be this fast, though he supposed he should have expected that.

He realized where Killua was going, and slowed down. _Why? Why Miike?_

＊＊＊

Killua wasn't as quiet as he should have been, he knew, but he could not stop himself. Stealth would anyway be of no use without speed. If he was caught, he would be able to do nothing against them, but if he delayed, he was sure to be detected.

He had almost reached Miike, he could see her leash trailing off on the right, and he knew the tether was to his left—he turned right and ran, as quickly as he could, _no limit_, and reached her—startled, she turned toward him, leaning forward, her jaws ready to snap closed around him, and had he time he would have felt fear— She saw him, and retreated a little, seeming half the size she did when she was looming over him. He commanded her to _be still_, and went towards her as quickly as he dared. He was clambering up her leg when he heard Kalluto's voice.

"What are you doing up there?"

Even as Killua fell, he tried to find a way out, anything, to run to hide, to fight to kill... _But should I... _no, it would take too long, if Kalluto was there, _he_ was surely not far behind.

"Running away," he said shortly, still on the ground where he'd fallen. There wasn't any point in lying. Not anymore.

"Why?"

He considered the probability that Kalluto was the one member of the family who didn't know.

Too low.

"No reason."

Kalluto turned to leave.

_Too high._

"Wait!"

Kalluto turned back, halfway, looking over his shoulder. "Why?"

"Because you've told Mother. Because she'll tell Illumi. I think..." Killua took a breath. "I think he'd really kill me."


	11. Surviving

Kalluto looked stunned. Killua was torn between trying to incapacitate the smaller boy and reasoning with him. When he failed to get to his feet, he chose the latter.

Despite everything, Killua's instincts were telling him that as long as he made no sudden movements, he'd be okay.

Seeing the younger boy still silently staring at him, Killua felt his temper flare. "How can you just stand there? I said _he'll kill me_—"

Kalluto turned half away again. "I don't believe you."

He relaxed into the ground again, regretting the reckless waste of energy. There was nothing he could do. Nowhere to run. He was going to die... Kalluto, unbelieving, would tell his parents, and unbelieving, they would tell _him_... for being so weak as to fail even to run away, Illumi would kill him—

He had nothing, nothing, he was out of tricks... his mind went faster but there was no escape; _run, run, run,_ it told him, but he could not; he was only weak... useless... _nothing..._

Killua saw contempt in the other boy's eyes as Kalluto approached, but there was something else as well; a ray of hope to his darkened mind: curiosity.

_I may be weak, even contemptible, to him, but I do__ have something he wants._

"You don't have to believe me. I'll... I'll offer you a deal. You tell me the truth. I'll tell you the truth. And then... you can do anything with me. Anything you want. I promise, I'll do anything. Just, please, don't tell them."

He saw Kalluto consider for a long second. _This way, he might even tell me how he manipulated Mother; or why._

At last, the other boy tilted his head in assent. "If you go first.

＊＊＊

_If this goes wrong; if he hears about this; if I say one wrong word—_

But the most important thing, as always, was that in that time, that place, he was alive...

With the strength of his renewed hope, Killua sat up, leaning back on his hands, trying not to breathe too hard, trying to make the truth seem harmless. "Illumi... I guess it's that he only does things for the family. And if the heir is weak, the family is weak. So he's trained me since I was really little... And when I didn't meet his expectations, he'd threaten me... at first it was just to cause me pain... even when I thought I couldn't feel anything anymore, somehow he'd find a way. He'd always find a way."

Killua shivered at the memory. "He's never lied to me, not once, and he's always, always right." He met Kalluto's eyes, staring him down, daring him to find falsehood in the words. "Two years ago, he told me that if I ever let down the family, he'd kill me."

_But he didn't mean it, about the family. Only him. I'd never get away with failing him._

"And I wasn't supposed to tell... anyone... but..." Kalluto was never supposed to know; no one was supposed to know. Did that make him a traitor to the family? But Illumi did tell him to stay alive, at any cost... "I had no choice... because if you tell Mother about this, about any of this, it's all over. Not just our deal. My life. And I suppose," Killua said, beginning to stand, "that if I somehow survive what I know he'll do to me, the deal is also off."

＊＊＊

"I told you what you wanted to know. Now tell me how you convinced Mother to give me the peppers."

Kalluto considered lying, telling Killua that he'd already told Mother, but it was too risky, and even if it wasn't, Killua was already scared enough. "She told me that she was going to see if you had withdrawal symptoms if she stopped giving you the poison drugs. So I convinced her to switch to a lesser form of dietary training instead of stopping altogether." From what he'd seen today, Killua would have freaked out worse had he been given non-poisoned normal food.

"I didn't know you would react so... precipitously."

_If I'd known about this... The idea of getting revenge on him is meaningless now. To have him know that, forever, I hold his life in my hands; to see the fear on his face;__ to hear him beg for forgiveness__... this is not revenge. This is..._

**Victory.**

＊＊＊

Still broken; still exhausted; behind his blankly relieved façade, Killua made another promise.

_Someday, I will break free from this place. From all of you. For my parents, that's enough. For Illumi, even._

_But you, Kalluto... You let me think you cared. And I can't forgive you for that just yet. I hope you'll understand.  
_


End file.
